The subject matter of the present invention relates generally to athletic shoes and in particular to such shoes employing an external heel counter. The external heel counter is made of a resilient material to provide comfort and good heel stability while preventing blistering that often occurs with stiff heel counters employed in the interior of the wall of the shoe upper. The external heel counter of the present invention can be used in addition to a conventional flexible internal heel counter or it can replace such internal heel counter.
Previously, it has been conventional to provide shoes with internal heel counters inside the wall of the shoe upper. In some cases, these have been made of metal or hard plastic strips to provide stiff heel counters, as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 882,109 of Harris. In addition, work boots or shoes have sometimes been provided with external metal plates extending around the exterior surface of the heel for added protection, as shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 217,761 of Winn and 706,551 of Gordon et al. However, in both cases the shoes are extremely uncomfortable because of the stiff heel counters which rub on the skin covering the Achilles tendon and cannnot be used for athletic purposes such as running, track, basketball, football and the like. In order to overcome the blistering problem inherent in stiff internal heel counters, the present invention employs an external heel counter member of reduced height made of resilient material which may be an elastomer, such as natural or artificial rubber. Previously, foam rubber has been employed internal to a conventional heel counter as a heel shell or liner extending around a portion of one side of the heel, as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 2,903,802 of Pochynok. However, no one has suggested the use of an external heel counter extending around both sides of the heel in place of a conventional internal heel counter or in addition thereto.
A lowered or "inverse" heel type shoe is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,964,181 of Holcombe, Jr. in which the sole of the shoe has been hollowed out in the heel portion to enable the heel of the foot to be positioned below the lower surface of the toes. However, there is no external heel counter surrounding the shoe upper attached to such sole portion. Furthermore, such shoe would be entirely unsuitable for athletics because it does not employ a raised heel and therefore would cause stretching of the Achilles tendon during running, resulting in serious injury to the athlete.
The shoe of the present invention may be provided with a multi-layered sole including an outer sole layer having straight sided polygon shaped studs molded integral therewith for better traction on hard surfaces such as streets or artificial turf. In this regard, the shoe of the present invention is somewhat similar to my earlier U.S. Pat. No. 3,793,750.